It’s doubtful I’ll get to spend much time at the Proviso West Holiday Tournament (brackets come out today). I’ll try to get over there on the first day, but that will be about it.
So considering that Young plays so many out of state games, I made a point to be at Lincoln Park last night to get my second look of the season at both teams.
The Dolphins ran into a buzz saw. The game was sold out when I arrived and the tiny, hot gym was alive. Young turned it over way too much in the first half while getting acclimated to the strange, small court. Right now they are lacking a senior guard presence to settle things down.
Antonio Munoz is one of the area’s great watches. He plays with so much enthusiasm and drops multiple dunks per game. But Lincoln Park’s inexperienced team wanted this one. I have no idea why I’d never heard of Chayse Turner until this season. The athletic junior is definitely a college prospect. There are several on the Lions, including sophomore guard Ahmad Lee.
Super 25 scores
No. 5 Brother Rice 66, No. 13 De La Salle 46: Marcos Gonzales led the way with 20 points in a dominant win for the Crusaders. Who says they can’t win a state title...
No. 10 Benet 62, No. 21 Marist 61: Big 7-0 sophomore Colin Stack had 14 points and 6 rebounds. Soph Gabe Sularski, who found Stack for the pass that won the game, added 13 points and 6 rebounds and soph Jayden Wright added 10 points. So many talented sophomores for the Redwings. Senior Patrick Walsh added 12 points. Marist sophomore Stephen Brown scored 21.
No. 7 Downers Grove North 55, Proviso West 36
No. 9 DePaul 40, No. 25 Loyola 18
No. 20 Lincoln Park 70, No. 12 Young 67
No. 4 Mount Carmel 66, St. Ignatius 58: The Caravan wins at home. Tre Marks and Angelo Ciaravino each scored 15. The Wolfpack is 0-2 in the CCL Blue so far. Phoenix Gill scored 23 points.
No. 11 Glenbrook North 62, Deerfield 41
No. 23 Lake Park 49, Glenbard North 45: Huge win for the Lancers in the conference and just to prove something overall. The ranking had been tenuous. Dennasio Lagioia hit the game-winner with 12 seconds left. He finished with 18 points, as did Tommy Rochford.
No. 16 New Trier 51, Scottsdale Christian, Ari. 24
No. 19 Riverside-Brookfield 88, Ridgewood 57
No. 18 Waubonsie Valley 49, DeKalb 45
Other notable games
Barrington 77, Fremd 72 OT: What a game for Alec Schmidts. He scored 28, made 6 three-pointers. Oliver Gray added 16 points.
Batavia 50, Geneva 30
Crane 63, Manley 62 OT: Biggest win for the Cougars in quite awhile. Dontea’ King had 21 points and 10 rebounds and Treveon Hoskins added 17.
Crystal Lake South 73, Cary-Grove 67 OT: AJ Demirov scores 40 at the swamp.
Lake Forest 61, Stevenson 36: Tommie Aberle had 20 points and Hudson Scroggins added 16 points and 6 rebounds.
Lane 68, Farragut 48: Impressive margin here for Lane, Farragut is solid. Shaheed Solebo scored 12 and grabbed 10 rebounds and Parker Williams and Brayden Rosenkrantz each scored 13. It’s the 200th career win for coach Nick LoGalbo.
Neuqua Valley 66, Metea Valley 48: Luke Kinkade scored 21.
Palatine 56, Schaumburg 30: Connor May scored 24.
Rolling Meadows 61, Hersey 49
St. Charles North 57, St. Charles East 46
Waukegan 71, North Chicago 50
West Aurora 61, Plainfield East 48: CJ Savage led the way with 20 points and five assists and Terrence Smith added 17 points.
Wheaton-Warrenville South 53, Wheaton North 38: Luca Carbonaro scored 20 to lead the Tigers to the rivalry win.
York 59, Lyons 34: AJ Levine scored 18 points. Dukes will be a factor at Jack Tosh.
Top performances
Andrew’s Grantas Sakenis: 19 points, 9 rebounds in a 56-25 win vs. Oak Forest.
Eisenhower’s AJ Abrams: 21 points in a 82-47 win vs. Kennedy
Hoffman Estates’ Nate Cleveland: 14 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists in a 54-39 win vs. Conant.
Jones’ Trey Lay: 22 points in a 60-44 win vs. Wells.
Providence’s Seth Chaney: 23 points in a 61-40 win vs. IC Catholic.
St. Laurence’s Josh Pickett: 24 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists in a 87-66 win vs. St. Francis de Sales.
Taft’s Lyle Scibor: 29 points in a 71-68 win vs. Payton.
Von Steuben’s Wade David: 23 points in a 50-38 win vs. Senn.
Westinghouse’s DJ Bolden: 24 points, 6 rebounds in a 68-52 win vs. Orr.
Friday’s takes
- The sophomore class is having a great first month of the season. Every game I attend I find a few more quality sophomores and the highest-level players are already dominating games. What a great sign for the next few seasons.
- Who will win the Red-North/West? Right now Lincoln Park and Westinghouse are 3-0. Lane is 3-1, Young 2-1. Totally up for grabs right now. On the other end there will be a real battle against relegation. Orr is in big trouble at 0-4 but the second spot could come down to any of the other five teams.
- Mekiel Posey, a former Curie assistant, has brought some life back to Crane. Friday’s win against Manley was an eye-opener. The Cougars are 9-2, 4-0 and could be headed back to the Red.
Saturday’s storylines
- The biggest game of the day is in Springfield, where top-ranked Thornton takes on Normal.
- There are several shootouts in the south suburbs: Crete-Monee, Romeoville and Sandburg. I’ll be up in Lake Zurich to see the Bears host Hersey and then I’m heading to Gurnee to see Joliet West vs. Warren.
